Saturday, May 17, 2014

AMERICAN MOUNTAIN SONGS compact disc released in 2014 - Songs collected by Ethel Park Richardson in 1926-1927, sung by one of her grandsons, Jonathan Guyot Smith

Ethel Park Richardson and Polar

Ethel Park Richardson collected the songs sung in the Appalachian mountains during her journeys into the highlands in the late 1920s, and later caused the same songs to be performed by a variety of singers - first at folk festivals in and around Chattanooga, Tennessee, then on radio station WDOD, and later on network radio broadcasts from New York City. She had a definite view regarding the manner in which these songs should be performed. How they were sung - in terms of melody, lyrics, and sincerity of presentation - meant more to Ethel than the style of the performance or the stylistic characteristics of the entertainers.

Jonathan Guyot Smith, youngest grandchild of Ethel Park (Smith) Richardson, heard his grandmother sing these songs when he was a child. The two shared an intense interest in the entertainment field, and he often did lecture/performances built around the mountain songs and stories he learned from his grandmother. This new album release features folk songs long ago gathered by Ethel Park Richardson and sung by her grandson in an extremely simple, straightforward manner - with no attempt at style, musical artistry, or adherence to any identifiable past or present performance genre. The accompaniments are basic and subtle, the focus remaining on the stories told in the quaint lyrics.

Songs included in this new album are:

1. ON TOP OF OLD SMOKY

2. IF YOU'RE EVER A-GOIN' TO LOVE ME

3. BLUE-EYED ELLEN

4. BARBARA ALLEN

5. THE RIDDLE SONG

6. THE WEEPING WILLOW

7. DEEP BLUE SEA

8. CHARMIN' BILLY

9. SOURWOOD MOUNTAIN

10. GROUND HOG

11. SINFUL TO FLIRT

12. JIMMY RANDALL

13. THE TWO SISTERS

14. A RICH IRISH LADY

15. THE MARY GOLDEN TREE

16. THE FOOLISH BOY

The album is obtainable through Amazon, CD Baby, and a variety of on-line outlets, and includes a booklet with extensive notes and photographs. All songs are sung just as Ethel Park Richardson heard them, sang them, and wished to have them perpetuated. They are the songs long loved by the people of the Southern Appalachians - some with origins in England and Scotland, and others created or cherished by our American mountaineers. They are here sung in the simplest manner, in tribute to the folk who kept them current and to the collector who gathered them in her book, American Mountain Songs.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

The talent exhibited by radio's Vass Family was amazing in every respect, and it explains the fact that they worked non-stop throughout the Depression - on radio, on stage, and in motion pictures - from the time they officially entered show business until the outbreak of World War II. The fact that they excelled in so many different ways, that they performed virtually every type of music and did dramatic parts with equal success, and that they worked in New York, Chicago, and Hollywood, causes the Vass Family to defy simple categorization. They shared Ethel Park Richardson's love for mountain songs, as well as her interest in dramatic acting and writing. They beautifully sang the antiquated popular songs Ethel also cherished, and - when sponsors requested it - they could perform the current pop hits of the day with clever arrangements and intricate harmonies. With never a lull in their career as a group, the sweet singing family from South Carolina achieved remarkable success, and yet their versatility and their constant movement from one assignment to the next have probably contributed to the lack of attention they've received from historians and chroniclers of that era in radio, in country and popular music, and in the Depression-era entertainment world.

The story begins with a history professor and Baptist minister, Dr. James Leland Vass, and his wife, Hallie - a former teacher - both of South Carolina. Dr. Vass taught at Furman University in Greenville, where all his children were born, beginning with James Leland Jr. in 1908. Several months later, Dr. Vass' older sister, Lula, left South Carolina for New York City, to continue her career as an actress. Seven more children were born to the Vasses: Frank (in 1911), Harriet, Sally (in 1912), Virginia, Louisa, Emily, and Susanna.

Moving to Charlotte, North Carolina, Dr. Vass opened a private school. As the Depression was getting underway and economic conditions were unfavorable, the school burned to the ground - and there was no insurance to cover this tragic loss. Trying to come up with a viable plan of action, the Vasses were contacted by Aunt Lula. Her second husband, Christian Railing, had died. At the time, Lula was managing a large and beautiful inn and resort called Green Pastures, on the Post Road in Darien, Connecticut. She suggested that her brother and the family come to help her run the place. It was a large property, at one time in the news as the proposed site of a small airstrip to transport commuters by air from Darien to New York City. North to Darien, Connecticut, went the Vass Family, to help run the inn.

The Vasses loved to sing. In the evenings, after attending to tasks at the inn, the young people would harmonize. Their aunt, who had been in show business and still occasionally did some work on NBC radio, took them to Radio City for an audition - and NBC hired the gifted group. They were first placed on Madge Tucker's "The Children's Hour," a very popular broadcast which featured many juvenile performers who went on to achieve considerable success in the entertainment field. By the autumn of 1932, The Vass Family had its own quarter-hour morning series on NBC. Mrs. Vass played the piano, Aunt Lula played character parts, and Frank, Sally, Virginia, Louisa, and Emily sang songs and portrayed themselves in brief sketches. Originally heard from 10:00 to 10:15 in the morning (following a quarter-hour by hillbilly singer "Pie Plant Pete"), The Vass Family was first billed as "Seven North Carolina children, singing in harmony." Leland and Harriet dropped out of the group, and the mother eventually ceased playing piano for them. Frank became adept at the harmonica, and Virginia played ukelele and guitar for accompaniment.

As far as may be determined, the Vass Family first worked with Ethel Park Richardson in 1934, when Madge Tucker invited her to do a brief "Hillbilly Heart-Throbs" sketch on NBC's "The Children's Hour." Ethel regularly worked with such juvenile performers as Florence and Billy Halop, Jackie Kelk, Charita Bauer, Walter Tetley, Jimmy McCallion, and Laddie Seaman - all of whom were likewise frequent members of the cast of "The Children's Hour." Emily Vass, youngest of the family, was a very gifted dramatic performer as well. Ethel would go on to write a number of parts for her after her splendid performance in the "Charmin' Billy" sketch presented on "The Children's Hour." Frank, Sally, and Virginia - while young people - were not really children when they first met and worked with Ethel Park Richardson. They provided the musical interludes between dramatic scenes on that first sketch, as Frank Luther's Trio was then doing on the regular "Hillbilly Heart-Throbs" broadcasts, and they were already extremely polished and highly professional. With beautiful voices, a wonderful blend, and possessing sophisticated musical skills, The Vass Family wrote and re-arranged their material so that it splendidly suited every application.

Ethel Park Richardson's NBC shows were sustaining. In those grisly Depression years, few sponsors came along. Frank Luther found himself too busy with commercial shows to continue doing the "Heart-Throbs of the Hills" series (the title having been changed from "Hillbilly Heart-Throbs"). Carson Robison carried on for a time, but he likewise found himself in demand on commercial programs and had to bow out. At this point, Ethel changed the show's title and concept. "Heart-Throbs of the Hills" ended - and, with it, the show's basic premise: the dramatization of hillbilly or country ballads. The series became "Dreams of Long Ago." Songs were still dramatized - but they were now old songs...old popular songs, some country songs, and various time-tested standards. With the new series title came a new musical group: The Vass Family.

From the beginning, Sally sang the lead in the trio, with Virginia singing harmony and playing guitar, while Frank sang the third part and played harmonica. Louisa and Emily played character parts. On a few occasions, Ethel had "Mama Vass" written into the scripts. Virginia was then known as "Jitchie" and Louisa as "Weezy." Ethel began to write dialogue for Virginia, Frank, and Emily, who played dramatic roles in many of the stories. Week after week, month after month, Ethel and the Vasses did "Dreams of Long Ago." At the same time, the Vass Family continued with its own quarter-hour NBC morning series. Initially, Mrs. Curtis Burnley Railing (The Vass' Aunt Lula) wrote the scripts for the Vass Family series. Sally took over the writing after her Aunt Lula left to do other projects, showing considerable talent and ability in that field. Their mother, who served as their manager, was also heard on the show - but their father did not perform with them.

On August 4, 1937, the Vass Family made its only commercial phonograph recordings, for Decca in New York City. The session consisted entirely of Ethel Park Richardson's collected versions of a variety of old songs. One wonders whether she might have been in the studio with them when the session was done. The Vasses sang the songs precisely the way Ethel liked to have them sung.

62495 A Paper of Pins Decca 5425

62496 Soldier, Won't You Marry Me? Decca 5432

62497 Deep Blue Sea Decca 5432

62498 Hawg Foot unissued

62499 Blue-Eyed Ellen unissued

62500 My Grandmother unissued

62501 Jimmie Randall Decca 5425

62502 Skip to My Lou unissued

Although their Decca session focused on hillbilly songs the family performed with Ethel, the Vass Family saw their career taking a different direction within the next few weeks. Soon after their Decca session, the family did a remote broadcast from New York to be used "live" on "The National Barn Dance," originating in Chicago. They were signed to appear on Ben Bernie's popular half-hour network show. They appeared in a remarkable sequence in the RKO motion picture, RADIO CITY REVELS, singing "There's a New Moon Over the Old Mill" with Kenny Baker. They found themselves with commercial engagements, and they left "Dreams of Long Ago."

In 1938, Alka Seltzer signed The Vass Family to do a thirteen-week series of "guest appearances" on "The National Barn Dance" in Chicago. They relocated to the windy city, doing their morning shows from there, appearing as guests on "The National Barn Dance" and also doing a number of sustaining programs on NBC. Before long, they became cast members of Don McNeill's popular "The Breakfast Club." They also appeared with pianist Alec Templeton on his series.

Journeying to Hollywood with Alec Templeton, the family did a screen test for Universal Pictures.

Back in Chicago in 1940, The Vass Family joined the cast of a stage musical, "Hold On to Your Hats," with Al Jolson, Ruby Keeler, and Jinx Falkenburg, on a Broadway try-out. They left the show before it moved to New York, where it ran only a few nights.

In 1941, the Vass Family appeared in Republic Pictures' COUNTRY FAIR, with Eddie Foy, Jr., Lulu Belle & Scotty, Hal Peary, Whitey Ford, June Clyde, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, William Demarest, Harold Huber, and Ferris Taylor. A musical comedy directed by Frank McDonald, COUNTRY FAIR has not been shown anywhere in recent years - but the Vass Family had a good sequence in which they sang their own arrangement of "Sierra Sue."

It should be noted that the Vass Family did not have formal vocal instruction as such, but that - when sponsors wanted more intricate arrangements of pop songs in the earlier part of the Vass' career - they turned to Dr. Harry Wilson, of Teacher's College, Columbia University, who assisted with the more complex harmonies and critiqued their voices.

Virginia Vass wed Robert Scott in 1938. Sally Vass and Richard Waters were married in 1941. By 1942, The Vass Family closed its performing career.

Virginia, however, had married an actor. She continued her career as a soloist, singing for several weeks on Gene Autry's CBS Melody Ranch series, and appearing on a number of dramatic serials, such as "Buck Rogers in the Twenty-First Century" and several popular daytime "soap operas." In 1943, she joined the cast of the Broadway play, "The Home Front."

After the war ended, Virginia Vass continued her career as a musical entertainer, dramatizing the mountain songs in a way similar to what she and her family had done on "Dreams of Long Ago." In the 1950s, she and Ethel Park Richardson met again, in Los Angeles, and Ethel enthusiastically wrote a couple of scripts for a series she called "The Patchwork Quilt," in which she hoped to star Virginia Vass. The series proposal found no willing producer or advertiser, but the reunion was a happy one.

Today, Virginia Vass - still full of talent, still lively and attractive - remains active, performing frequently in the community where she resides. Some years ago, her beautiful voice was showcased on a series of splendidly entertaining CDs of dramatized folk songs, with her own autoharp accompaniment. Emily Vass is likewise active today, residing in Oregon. It is most unfortunate that The Vass Family made few commercial recordings. A few airchecks of their radio work remain as evidence of their artistry. Theirs is an important place in the Ethel Park Richardson saga, and they are remembered today as a wondrously gifted family with astonishing versatility and charm.

Ethel Park Richardson, native of Decherd, Tennessee, was at the Pierpont Hotel in Brooklyn, New York, on October 16, 1929, at which time she wrote these lines: "This is to certify that the dramatization of Sam Walter Foss' poem, The House By the Side of the Road, employing also Edward Carpenter's Toward Democracy and Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet and Forerunner and other ethical classics, is my own conceived idea and work, and no other's. To this fact, I can call as witnesses Eunice Osborne and John Carlisle, to whom I outlined my plan even before I had written the accompanying script." She signed the paper and had it notarized, intending to turn THE HOUSE BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD into a dramatic quarter-hour radio serial.

By the time Ethel began writing the second episode, her format had crystallized. The series title was now THE HOUSE BESIDE THE ROAD, and the story opened with a melodion playing a few bars of "A Perfect Day." The announcer reads portions of Carpenter's and Foss' works and then introduces the main characters, "two gentle people whom sorrow has touched and softened." They are identified only as "Pa" and "Mother," characters based to an extent on Ethel's fond recollections of her own parents. The announcer goes on to explain that "...a beloved son, who went bravely away to the Great War, has not returned. But they will not give up hope that he will return! And, as proof of their faith, they have set, each night through all these years, a candle in the window to welcome him home." We find the gentle old couple in their cottage, where they are soon startled by a thud outside their front door. A young woman with desperate difficulties has happened along - and thus is established the basic premise of the series. Pa and Mother are there to do good, to model gentleness and compassion and sincerity, and to help others who pass the cottage and stop for a dipper of cool water from the spring near the front door.

Early in 1931, THE HOUSE BESIDE THE ROAD found a sponsor: The American Mutual Liability Insurance Company! The series was heard as a quarter-hour "dramatic sketch" on New York's WABC radio, from 7:15 to 7:30 on Tuesday and Friday evenings. The lead-in on WABC was "The Morton Downey Show," and Ethel's series was followed by "The St. Moritz Orchestra." Although well-received, the series only ran for thirteen weeks. It is possible that the Depression economy caused sales for American Mutual to be disappointing or that they felt they would have greater success with a musical program. At that time in the history of radio broadcasting, singers and orchestras far outnumbered dramatic "sketches." Compounding the problem was that radio's wildly popular "Amos 'n Andy" was running from 7:00 to 7:15 on NBC, proving to be a powerful lead-in for any program which followed it.

In late summer of 1932, however, the N. W. Ayer agency found a client interested in sponsoring Ethel's series on New York's WOR: Kopper's Sea-Board Coke Company. Heard as a quarter-hour series three evenings per week, the series' title was changed to A WAYSIDE COTTAGE. The opening signature became "Just a Cottage Small By a Waterfall." The series premise, however, was unchanged. "Pa" was played to perfection by Bill Adams, who had a long and distinguished radio career, and "Mother" was now portrayed by Vivia Ogden. In the opening segment, "Copper in the Soil," two shady characters - one of whom was played by Brian Donlevy - attempt to persuade Pa and Mother to let them destroy the spring in front of the cottage (along with, of course, the series' premise) by mining for copper. At one point, they plan to secretly file for the mineral rights on their own. The gentle goodness of Pa and Mother brings about an understanding of deeper values, however, and the selfish characters repent by the end of the story.

Nick Kenny, columnist for the New York Daily Mirror, became a devoted admirer of Ethel's, praising her programs on a regular basis, and A WAYSIDE COTTAGE received more fan mail than any other show with which Ethel Park Richardson was ever involved. With three scripts to turn out each week, she wrote frantically. Her semi-regular characters had amnesia, saw startling coincidences reform their lives, and were reunited with long-lost loved ones. Husband and wife, child and parent, neighbor and neighbor were all brought closer together through the goodness represented by Pa and Mother.

Two-part stories were not at all unusual. In one memorable pair, "Noisy Neighbors" and "If I Knew You," a department store owner escapes his unhappy city life for a rural drive, passing by the wayside cottage. He tells of a hateful neighbor in his apartment building, who disturbs his rest and is the antithesis of what he views as good and desirable in human nature. He seeks solace in the broadcasts of "Jolly Joe," a homespun radio philosopher whose cheerfulness and wisdom he admires. By the end of the two-part story, we find that the despised neighbor (whom he's never actually seen) is in reality "Jolly Joe" himself. Pa and Mother show both visitors that getting to know and understand others is the key to enduring peace.

A three-parter, "Measles for Sale!", "Sir Knight," and "Ga-loop!," presents Billy Halop as a runaway boy who is understood by Pa and Mother and swiftly reunited with parents who will subsequently understand him better. Billy Halop, a frequent guest on Ethel Park Richardson's programs, was joined by fellow youthful radio actors Walter Tetley and Jimmie McCallion in a special WAYSIDE COTTAGE Halloween episode as well.

The well-written series resonated with Depression audiences. Late in Ethel Park Richardson's life, when the subject of her radio career came up in the presence of strangers or casual acquaintances, the one series best remembered by most was A WAYSIDE COTTAGE, although the show never enjoyed a truly lengthy run. The WOR version reached an end in dismal 1933. It is possible that Kopper's Sea-Board Coke Company could no longer afford to sponsor a series in the heart of the Depression, and A WAYSIDE COTTAGE would have proved too costly a show for WOR to run on a sustaining basis at that point in time. For Ethel Park Richardson, however, a new adventure was beginning. NBC was running HILLBILLY HEART-THROBS in May of 1933, as a sustaining series in search of sponsorship. At the very moment A WAYSIDE COTTAGE entered a dormant phase, another venture moved into the forefront.

CBS then decided to bring the series back as more-or-less a summer replacement program on the network, to run from 7:15 to 7:30 on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, beginning July 10, 1934. It was first decided to revert to the 1931 title, THE HOUSE BESIDE THE ROAD. After a few episodes, a decision was made to cash in on the program's more recent popularity on WOR, and so it became THE WAYSIDE COTTAGE. David Ross was the announcer. William Adams and Vivia Ogden were "Pa" and "Mother." Others heard on the show included Anne Elstner, Fannie Mae Baldridge, Jackie Kelk, Warren Colston, Mary Smith, Artels Dixon, Walter Soderling, Alice Davenport, Charles Bellin, Ruth Russell, Laddie Seaman, Cecil Secrest, Henry Gurvey, and Ethel Park Richardson herself.

The program's CBS run generated a great deal of fan mail, and Ethel answered all of it. Pittsburgh columnist S. H. Steinhauser wrote about Bill Adams' role in the show in a column published on September 16, 1934: "...Adams...portrays a kindly farmer who lives in a wayside cottage. He leads his neighbors in saving others' homes from foreclosure, raises funds for the relief of the needy, and shows the more fortunate how to help their deserving fellowmen. Currently, Adams is starring in a Columbia presentation called The Wayside Cottage, a homey type of tragedy-drama that takes one by the throat, chokes him up, and brings tears from his eyes, if he has an ounce of human kindness in his makeup...."

Dramatic "sketches" presented in the evening hours were not attracting the few advertisers' dollars in the 1930s, and particularly on the networks. Radio comedians were on the rise - and Ethel Park Richardson had some comments on that subject which indicated her lack of appreciation for the efforts of many such performers - and so were several well-known vocalists, orchestras, and bands. It was not the right moment for dramatic stories which touched the heart. THE WAYSIDE COTTAGE ended its run on September 13, 1934, with a two-character play in which Pa and Mother reminisce. At the end of the story, David Ross read these lines: "Vivia Ogden and William Adams, as Pa and Mother, regret to bid their kind friends goodbye, but THE WAYSIDE COTTAGE will be heard no more. Ethel Park Richardson, the author of THE WAYSIDE COTTAGE, wishes to thank the many friends for their letters of appreciation, and hopes some day again to be able to present these little tales of the simple kindness of the two we have come to love in memory of our own Father and Mother. This is the COLUMBIA......BROADCASTING SYSTEM."

For thirty years after the final broadcast of the series, Ethel dreamed of bringing it back in some way. She began a novel based on the program, but never went beyond the first few pages. When television came along, she endeavored to turn THE WAYSIDE COTTAGE into a TV series, which would have been challenging. A late 1930s contract with her agent made a passing reference to the existence of recordings of THE WAYSIDE COTTAGE, but none are known to exist. Many of the original scripts, however, do exist. They are imaginative, lively, and beguiling. They speak of an era in which the concept of profoundly good, unselfish, and kindly senior citizens living in a little house beside a country road and helping all passersby could be taken seriously and accepted without reservation. Although better remembered today for her pioneering work in the country music field with HILLBILLY HEART-THROBS, Ethel Park Richardson retained a special place in her heart for Pa and Mother of THE WAYSIDE COTTAGE.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Frank Luther, one of the most-recorded voices of the 20th century, who cut virtually every type of song in formats ranging from Edison 78s to stereo Lps, appeared with his trio on the very first Hillbilly Heart-throbs broadcast in 1933 and, 40 years later, would refer to Ethel Park Richardson as a "wonderful woman whom I know very well." Francis Luther Crow was born August 4, 1900 to William R. Crow and Gertrude Phillips in Lakin, Kansas, about 40 miles from the Colorado line. His father was managing a cattle ranch near the Arkansas River. The family soon settled in Hutchinson, where Crow engaged in the hog and cattle business. William R. Crow & Sons prospered, and their hogs - raised on buttermilk - were selected by the State of Kansas to be exhibited at the San Franciso Exposition in 1915. Frank later remarked that he missed a lot of school assisting his father and his older brother, Phil, at livestock shows. Frank, who recalled that his father "made a lot of money raising livestock, and lost a lot of money raising trotting horses," developed an early love for music. His father purchased a piano in 1905, and Frank loved to play - but truly "hated the stupid exercises. The stupid exercises are what drive children away from music. It's why so many of them drop out so soon. The exercises are boring, unpleasant, and unmusical. I think it's important to let a youngster do some of the things he wants to do, instead of the monstrous exercises." In improvising and playing by ear, instead of just sight-reading, Frank began to compose music. At 13, he started taking voice lessons - and, by the age of 16, he had heard the evangelist Jesse Kellems - who made a lasting impression on him - and left Hutchinson on a tour with an organization led by the Reverend O. L. Cook. He sang, set up the chairs, did advance publicity, and passed the plate. During a stop in Iola, Kansas, the teenaged singer was ordained. Before he was 22, Frank was a minister at the small First Christian Church in Bakersfield, California. He organized an adult choir of 80 voices, a children's choir of 30, and two church orchestras. The church's excellent music inspired its congregation, but the Reverend Crow suddenly stepped down and closed that chapter of his life, explaining later that he was "simply on the wrong path. I was a musician, not a minister."

In 1926, married to Kansas singer/musician Zora Layman and eager to further his career, Frank joined a group known as the DeReszke Singers, serving as piano accompanist/tenor for $150 a week. The group was booked for a long tour with comedian Will Rogers. Sophisticated musicians, the singers looked askance at young Crow - and, insisting that his surname (Crow) was unmusical, bade him drop it and become simply Frank Luther. This he did, but spent most of the tour talking with Will Rogers when the two were not performing. After the last performance, Frank joined The Revelers, a popular quartet, in New York City. The Revelers had hit records and were exceptionally popular in England. At a salary of $600 a week, Frank toured Great Britain as part of the Revelers - meeting the future Queen and doing a set with the Prince of Wales sitting in on drums. His career prospects were fabulous as The Revelers boarded the ship to return to New York - but Frank contracted a severe cold, which led to a monstrous sinus infection, a throat infection, and the inability to sing. Heartbroken, he left the Revelers, replaced by James Melton. While slowly regaining his singing voice in New York, Frank took a variety of small jobs - one being in a dismal Pittsburg night club. A turning point came when he met singer-songwriter Carson J. Robison, a fellow Kansan. Robison had recorded country music quite prolifically with the wonderful, popular tenor, Vernon Dalhart - and had composed a number of songs which the duo put on record. Disagreements over their business arrangements caused a falling out between Dalhart and Robison in 1928, and they ceased to record together - but Robby, as his friends called him, lost no time in launching into a series of very similar recordings with Frank Luther. Country music was in vogue at the time, and Frank Luther had grown up on Kansas ranches and farms. Having no exclusive record contract, he and Robison were able to record a huge number of country selections for virtually all the record companies then in existence. On Victor, a full-price label, their records were issued under the pseudonym "Bud and Joe Billings." On Okeh, they recorded as "The Black Brothers." On Grey Gull, there were a variety of aliases. Dozens and dozens of songs were recorded, issued on dozens of different labels, using a variety of assumed names. There were big hits - and Frank made his mark in country music."Barnacle Bill the Sailor," "Left My Gal in the Mountains," "The Wreck of Number Nine," "The Sinking of the Vestris," "When It's Springtime in the Rockies," "The Little Green Valley," "An Old Man's Story," "Open Up Them Pearly Gates," "The Wanderer's Warning," "Down on the Old Plantation," "When the Bloom is On The Sage," "Sleepy Rio Grande," "In the Cumberland Mountains," "Little Cabin in the Cascade Mountains," "Why Did I Get Married?," and others were major Frank Luther hits. Frank and Robby even hit the pop charts with their hit recordings of "I'm Alone Because I Love You," "When Your Hair Has Turned to Silver," and "Drifting and Dreaming." During this period, Frank developed a lifelong friendship with Gene Autry, who played guitar on some of Frank's covers of Jimmie Rodgers hits. It must be noted, however, that as prolific as Frank Luther was in the country field, he did not confine his efforts to that genre. From 1927 until the mid-1930s, he made a huge quantity of big band records, providing vocal choruses with his smooth tenor voice. Many of these records were hits, appearing on the charts which existed at that time. In demand at all the labels, Frank recorded solo vocal choruses and worked in quartets. There was virtually no type of music he did not tackle during this busy period.In the spring of 1932, Carson Robison formed a cowboy ensemble, with John and Bill Mitchell and Pearl Pickens, and embarked on a successful tour of the British Isles. He and Frank ceased to record together at that point, but remained close friends. In 1932, Frank brought in his wife, Zora Layman, and baritone Len Stokes, forming a wonderful trio to record for Victor, American Record Company, Crown and other labels. Depression consumers did not buy many Victor 75-cent discs, but the dime store records the Frank Luther Trio made for the American Record Company sold well at a quarter apiece. "The New 21 Years," "Rocking Alone in an Old Rocking Chair," "When the White Azaleas Start Blooming," "Seven Years With the Wrong Woman," and "Down By The Old Rustic Well" achieved good sales and became country classics - though seldom with Frank's name connected in the public mind with these hits - and he was undoubtedly one of the most successful country artists on record at the time Ethel Park Richardson launched Hillbilly Heart-Throbs on NBC in May, 1933.How Ethel Park Richardson became acquainted with Frank Luther is anyone's guess at this point. He did perform frequently on NBC - and, in fact, on all the New York radio stations which existed in the early '30s. Frank, Zora, and Len were on the very first Hillbilly Heart-Throbs show. Ethel and Frank, both creative artists with definite ideas as to how songs should be performed, did not always agree, artistically - but they greatly admired one another. At the time the radio series began, Zora Layman - Mrs. Luther - had a major hit record....the first real hit ever recorded by a female country soloist....Bob Miller's "Seven Years With the Wrong Man." When she sang this classic selection on Hillbilly Heart-Throbs, the switchboard at NBC lit up for a very long time. The Trio was at its artistic peak at that time. The week of the show's debut, they recorded "When the Wild, Wild Roses Bloom," and - a couple of weeks later - "Sweetheart Lane," examples of the Frank Luther Trio at its zenith. They brought to life the hillbilly songs Ethel dramatized, giving them a new dimension of simple beauty and rich harmony. Often joined by their friend, Carson Robison, who played guitar - and joined Frank Luther and Len Stokes in playing trio arrangements with occarinas - the group did wonderfully creative work. At times, Zora sang the lead in the trio arrangements...and at other times either Frank or Len took the melody. Week after week, the sang the opening signature, altered slightly when the program switched its title to Heart-Throbs of the Hills. When the series reverted to a full 30-minutes, instead of a quarter-hour, the first ten minutes consisted of a Frank Luther Trio mini-concert. An integral part of the show, Frank's trio sang the musical bridges between dramatic scenes, and both Frank and Len were occasionally given dialogue in the stories. In August, 1934, Frank signed a contract with the new Decca Records. He began filming a series of short subjects to be released through Educational Pictures, and his radio activities expanded. Appearing on many commercial broadcasts, it was no longer possible for him to continue on the sustaining Heart-Throbs of the Hills series. Ethel Park Richardson turned to Carson Robison, who brought in a trio to provide the musical bridges.The short films, including The House Where I Was Born, Rodeo Days, Hillbilly Love, and Mountain Melody, did nothing spectacular for Frank's career - but a group of records he made for the new 35-cent Blue label Decca company was to change the entire course of his career. On October 22, 1934, he recorded six sides for Decca which consisted of many Mother Goose songs, strung together by short narratives which formed a sort of story. Released as a set of three 78s in a paper sleeve and sold at $1.05, Mother Goose Songs proved successful beyond all expectations. Followed closely by a second set, Nursery Rhymes, Frank Luther brought Decca to the number one position in the field of children's records. His reassuring voice, telling young listeners that "Mother tucks you in and leaves you in the nice, friendly darkness" prompted child psychologists to recommend the records. For the next ten years, Decca Records would have the field of children's recordings just about locked up - with Frank Luther its major performer. The Story of Babar, Winnie-the-Pooh and Christopher Robin Songs, Bible Stories for Children, Tuneful Tales, Alice in Wonderland, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Fairy Tales were just a few of the album sets which followed. Although Frank continued to be a popular radio tenor, even taking time out to travel to California to star in a low budget musical feature film, High Hat, released by Imperial Pictures some months after it was filmed - the field which truly made him a "star" was children's records. Frank and Zora had an NBC series of their own, presenting "Songs of America" to a network audience. Two exquisite album sets of Stephen Foster songs were recorded for Decca, and two album sets of Civil War songs were followed by albums of Irish melodies, Songs of Old New York, and Songs of Old California. All this Americana prompted the energetic Luther to write and publish a book, Americans and Their Songs, presenting an overview of popular music in the USA from colonial days to the 1890s. Decca made Frank an executive, in charge of children's, religious, and educational recordings. Frank Luther and Zora Layman were divorced, recording together for the last time with harmonica virtuoso Thomas Hart Benton in a superb Decca album set, "Saturday Night at Tom Benton's." Thereafter, Zora remained on her farm in Rhinebeck, New York, and Frank focused on radio work and transcriptions during World War II. During the war years, when his Decca recording was halted, Frank's voice mellowed from tenor to baritone. He remarried, becoming the father of a girl and boy after WWII had concluded. At that time, he began to record prolifically again, after a hiatus of several years, to rebuild Decca's catalogue of children's records. He remade many of his classic album sets and devised new ones.Also during the immediate post-war years, The Frank Luther Show made its debut on New York's WNYC, as a children's radio series- at first, sustaining...and later sponsored by Maltex cereal. The program adhered to a pattern from which they very seldom varied. Frank sat at the piano, with a celeste nearby, and sang and played a very simple opening signature. He was joined each week by a singer-actress portraying the part of a child, entering with a theme identifying her as "Judy--That's Me." She would tell stories about a foolishly disobedient child called Silly Pilly, and have adventures with Mr. Wheatly Whale, voiced by Frank himself - who, incredibly, sang bass on occasion as part of his "whale" characterization. Each week, nursery rhymes and other ditties would be dedicated to youngsters who had requested them. Children were saluted on their birthdays. A song-request for mothers was always included. After exhorting his audience to "stay safe and well," Frank would play a wistful closing signature on the piano. The key component of the series, however, was the playing of Frank's Decca records for children throughout each broadcast. It was a successful show - and turned Frank into a recognized celebrity as nothing had ever quite done before. He announced his personal apearances on the program each week...usually in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, or Maine. Though now a fatherly baritone, his singing was still wonderful to hear. Competition from the plethora of small record companies which had come into existence during WWII cut into the sales of Frank's Decca recordings. Frank wrote, "We used to have the children's record business all to ourselves. Then, during the war, material shortages halted production of children's, country, Spanish, and other special type records. A lot of little companies saw the chance, jumped into the children's record business, and we've therefrom had terrific competition."Decca reorganized its executive branch, making Sy Rady head of their children's recording department. Frank began recording independently, even releasing a few discs on his own label, before selling the masters to Decca. Finally, in 1955 - with rock 'n roll revolutionizing the field of pop music and with Walt Disney garnering the lion's share of the children's record business - Frank stepped back. Moving to Boston, where he had a radio and a TV series for children and was Director of Public Affairs for WNAC-TV, Frank concentrated on writing a musical play, a folk-opera adaptation of Tom Sawyer. This production, aimed at Broadway, was presented on television ,on the U.S. Steel Hour, for Thanksgiving 1956, and a Decca Lp of the original cast recording was released. Thereafter, the play was performed by theatre groups throughout the United States.

In the late 1950s, Frank Luther made albums for a variety of labels. His long time label,Decca, even bought a 1959 stereo album Frank produced independently, "Children's Sing-Along," but much of his product appeared on educational labels. By 1963, he was in charge of producing a line of children's albums for United Artists. He later joined forces with Pickwick International to do educational products. In New York City in the 1960s, Frank produced the million-selling original cast album of the Off-Broadway classic, The Fantastiks. He was affiliated with a variety of educational record production outfits throughout the '60s and '70s, resuming his performing career with two superb stereo Lps for Pickwick, "Frank Luther Sings 22 American Folk Songs," and "A Treasury of Mother Goose Songs." Made with extremely simple accompaniment ("That's all you need," Frank rightly said), the two albums were issued on the Mr. Pickwick label near the end of his career. He also wrote a score for a musical play, connected with a U.S. Government program to promote conservation of natural resources. "I have always tried to have something good, to benefit others, connected with every project I undertake," Frank said about his conservation play. Modest about his career, Frank referred to his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame only by saying, "I just got back from the Coast." He was, in the 1930s and 1940s, responsible by estimate for over 75% of all sales of children's recordings. At least two dozen country music standards were first made hits by Frank Luther. His is one of the most-recorded voices of the 20th century, having made hundreds of recordings ranging from nursery rhymes to light opera. As a big band vocalist on records, he sang on a large number of major hits. He composed songs, wrote plays, wrote a book, had hit radio shows, performed on 1950s television, and turned out unforgettable recordings of standard American melodies. He was one of the biggest sellers in country music from 1928 through 1935. Hillbilly Heart-Throbs derived artistic benefit from the incomparable tenor voice of Frank Luther. His interpretations of many forms of classic American music will delight listeners as long as the recordings he made remain accessible for all to enjoy.

Kelvin Keach was announcer on all the HILLBILLY HEART-THROBS/HEART-THROBS OF THE HILLS broadcasts

*note: Because this was a sustaining series, NBC changed days and timeslots frequently, which is why above dates are sometimes not consecutive. Any assistance in filling in missing information will be greatly appreciated.

Ethel Park Richardson created "Hillbilly Heart-Throbs" in 1933 on NBC Radio

Although she created, wrote and produced the first "song-stories" on radio and is best remembered today for her role in the dissemination of hillbilly and mountain ballads on a national level, Ethel Sloan Park was born in the small town of Decherd, Tennessee - in the shadow of Cumberland Mountain - on December 13, 1883. Her father, Lunsford Yandell Park, a native of Seguin, Texas, was an excellent old-time fiddler, and her mother, Isabella Barron, played the piano. One of ten children of railroad depot agent/telegrapher Lunsford Park, Ethel grew up surrounded by music, developing a special fondness for the folk songs sung by mountaineer acquaintances, the traditional melodies of African-American friends whose church services she periodically attended as a child, and the sentimental parlor songs of the 19th century. All her siblings sang. When they moved to Chattanooga in the early 1890s, the Park children formed virtually the entire choir of The Central Baptist Church.

A good student, Ethel loved to write both poetry and prose. Because no schools then existed in Decherd, she began to read and write by learning and listening to her father's Morse code messages. Beginning her formal schooling later in Chattanooga, she was in her late teens when she met Paul Jordan Smith, who was taking a needed course at Chattanooga High School. Kindred spirits, the two writers who shared a love of literature and poetry and a desire to engage in creative work entered into a correspondence and, much against parental wishes, were secretly wed in 1904.

Ethel and Paul moved to Illinois, where he attended college and subsequently studied for the ministry. A charismatic public speaker, Paul was surrounded by admirers and found himself in great demand after the couple relocated to Chicago with their three small children. The marriage disintegrated, and the Smiths' friend, Clarence Darrow, handled their divorce - some eight years after they had slipped away to be married.

With three small children to support, Ethel baked, took in sewing, and worked as ghost-writer for the syndicated newspaper column of a well-known poet. A deacon in the church Paul had lately served as minister, James Perkins Richardson, befriended Ethel, hiring her to work for him at a small prep school he was conducting on a Missouri apple farm he had acquired. By 1914, Jim Richardson and Ethel's three small children had moved to Houston, Texas, where he physically constructed and opened the Prosso Preparatory School. There, Ethel wed the older gentleman - who had three grown children - and Ethel Park Smith became, for the rest of her life, Ethel Park Richardson.

Although both were busy teaching adolescents at Prosso and running the affairs of the school, they journeyed East for one of Jim's Yale reunions. Riding in an elevator with former President William Howard Taft, Ethel pulled his coattails, telling the astonished ex-Chief Executive that she only hoped to tell others that she "knew a President well enough to pull his coattaiils." President Taft slyly winked at Jim Richardson and then, extending his hand to Ethel, said, "And, if you will be so gracious, you may add that the President shook hands with you!" In 1919, Ethel went to New York to spend the summer studying dramatic writing at Columbia University.

Ethel wrote and produced a play, The Bridge to Dreamland, in Houston, also working on other plays and writing poetry. After the death of Jim Richardson, she carried on with Prosso single-handedly for a time. Students, in addition to her own children, included Howard Hughes and pianist Seger Ellis. The school closed and a new life began for the 5'1" woman from Decherd when musicologist/author Sigmund Spaeth came to Houston, lecturing under the auspices of the Knabe Piano Company. He had just come out with a popular book on the sentimental songs of the 19th century, entitled Read 'em and Weep, and it amazed him to visit in Ethel's parlor and discover that she knew literally hundreds of old songs.

By coincidence, Spaeth had been approached by a New York publisher, Jae Greenberg, to compile a book of American mountaineer songs. Extremely busy at the time, he suggested that perhaps Ethel Park Richardson might like to undertake the project. Delighted beyond description, Ethel signed a contract with Greenberg on August 10, 1926, stipulating that she was to deliver a completed manuscript no later than November 15 of that year. Swiftly putting a close to her affairs in Houston, Ethel returned to Chattanooga and set about to compile - in three short months - a collection of mountain melodies!

She was not a folklorist by training. Whether she was personally acquainted with Francis J. Child's volumes of ballads or not is anyone's guess. She did journey to remote parts of Kentucky, Virginia, North Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina - in enormous haste - and she also visited with such early country recording artists as Gid Tanner. She made a 16mm motion picture in Appalachia, conducted a folk festival in Chattanooga, visited and obtained authentic mountaineer clothing from WWI hero Sergeant Alvin York's mother, gathered many fine songs, and began broadcasting on WDOD in Chattanooga. On one occasion, she played a banjo with one hand and a dulcimer with another as she accompanied her singing of a folk song she had found in the hills.

When she left Chattanooga to personally deliver her manuscript of the book, American Mountain Songs, to Greenberg , she brought along a letter of introduction from WDOD to personnel at the newly-formed National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in New York City. The Chattanooga station had given Ethel an opportunity to broadcast "hillbilly" songs, to sing African-American melodies, and to act. She'd had her taste of radio and adored it.

Her first audition was for John Babb at NBC, and she sang hillbilly songs for him. Her first actual contract came when she gave an "on the air" audition of African-American songs that happened to be included in an international hook-up. Ten days later, she was signed to co-star as "Mandy" with Phil Cook in The Cabin Door.

It is perhaps difficult for contemporary readers and researchers to understand how Ethel Park Richardson, closely associated with early country music, devoted much of her early career to the presentation of African-American folklore on radio. It was then acceptable for European-Americans to represent African-Americans on radio, recordings, and the stage. Gosden and Correll, as "Amos and Andy," scored the biggest hit in the early days of American radio, with a program genuinely beloved by the masses. Ethel, who had attended church services as a child with her black friends, did all Southern dialects - black and white - convincingly and with affection. She auditioned and won the part of "Camilla Crow" with radio's Moran and Mack ("The Two Black Crows") and the huge number of losing candidates for the coveted role gave her such hateful glances that the producer advised her to leave the audition room by the back door. She often re-wrote her dialect lines if they were inaccurately conceived. Ethel recalled, on one early broadcast of the Grunow Majestic Radio Hour that Charley Mack lost his place in the script and "got the jitters." Ethel ad-libbed many questions to him until he'd found his place, and the producer subsequently thanked her profusely. On another network broadcast, her performance in telling the story of David in Goliath, in dialect, so impressed guest-star George Arliss that he came to her with congratulations afterward.

On New York station WOR, Ethel portrayed a housekeeper named "Cindy." There were then no commercials on daytime radio, but WOR was owned by Bamberger's, a large department store in the New York area. Against the wishes of Mr. Bamberger, Ethel - as "Cindy" - began folksily talking about the new dishes available at the store. Within a couple of hours, Bamberger's had sold the entire stock...during the Depression. The daytime radio commercial had come into its own. "Cindy" had a large following in Harlem, and Ethel became a friend of such prominent figures as Julius Thomas, of the Urban League.

Early in her radio career, Ethel actually played hillbilly 78 rpm recordings on a series - functioning as what was much later termed a "disc jockey." For her signature, however, she played the zither and sang "Sourwood Mountain," live.

As a writer/producer, Ethel created such series as Little Theatre of Radio, but her best-loved show was undoubtedly The Wayside Cottage, which aired three times a week on WOR in the heart of the Depression. William Adams and Vivia Ogden portrayed two characters known only as "Pa" and "Mother," who lived in a little house by the side of the road, and who had the uncanny ability to straighten out the problems, soothe the heartaches, and bring miraculously happy circumstances to all the troubled passersby who paused for a cup of cool water from the spring flowing near the little house. Sponsored by Kopper's Seaboard Coke Company, fuel distributors, the series attracted a devoted following. New York Daily Mirror columnist Nick Kenny became Ethel's biggest fan, praising her in his columns and calling her "the mother of radio's hillbilly sweetness." The Wayside Cottage later resurfaced on CBS as The House Beside the Road.

Her desire to dramatize old songs caused her to do much writing and to ultimately generate a series concept, Hillbilly Heart-throbs, which consisted of the telling of a story constructed around a country or "hillbilly" ballad, by actors using mountaineer dialect. Instead of organ music serving as a transition between scenes, singers would perform parts of the ballad to advance the story. NBC bought the concept, and Ethel signed a contract on May 15, 1933. She was to receive $25 for each script, if the series aired on a sustaining basis. If a sponsor could be located, her fee would rise to $100. She received an extra salary for acting in the program, as she almost always did.

NBC scheduled Hillbilly Heart-throbs as a summer replacement at first, running for thirteen weeks in 1933. For the key musical role, Ethel was fortunate in getting the Frank Luther Trio. Frank was one of the most popular country artists on records at that time, gifted with a superb tenor voice. In his trio were his wife, Zora Layman, and gifted baritone Len Stokes. On many occasions, their friend Carson Robison joined them as both singer and instrumentalist. A steel guitarist named Sven sometimes worked with them, as did Johnny Cali and other renowned musicians. For the dramatic roles, Anne Elstner and Curtis Arnall, Jack Roseleigh and many others played characters Ethel created. The signature song performed by the Frank Luther Trio, "Sing Me a Hillbilly Heart-throb," was written and composed by Ethel herself.

No sponsor was forthcoming in 1933, with the Depression deepening. The summer season concluded, and so did the series - but it was resumed on February 6, 1934. NBC sought sponsorship, but - although the show had a large and loyal following - no prospective sponsor stepped forward. Eleven weeks into the second run of the program, it was decided to alter the title in such a way as to remove the sometimes controversial term, "hillbilly." Beginning May 13, 1934, the series became Heart-throbs of the Hills. Originally a fifteen-minute program, the show grew to a full 30-minutes. Initially, the first ten minutes would be devoted to a recital by the incomparable Frank Luther Trio. When Zora Layman, the first country female artist to enjoy a major solo hit record, sang her big song - "Seven Years With the Wrong Man" - on the series, the NBC switchboard lit up for a prolonged period.

With a faithful audience and critical praise from Nick Kenny and many others, Heart-throbs of the Hills continued on NBC through 1934 and into 1935. During this period, Frank Luther had signed with Decca and had revolutionized the field of children's records with his landmark album sets, "Mother Goose Songs" and "Nursery Rhymes." He was also making short films for release through Educational Pictures and appeared non-stop on radio. It became necessary for the Frank Luther Trio to withdraw from the series. Ethel asked the amiable Carson Robison to bring in his own group. He performed on the show until October, 1935, and Ethel even wrote dramatizations of some of Robbie's famed original compositions, including "Oklahoma Charley,"

"Left My Gal in the Mountains," "The Wreck of Number 9" and several more.

There were a lot of old 19th century songs Ethel wanted to dramatize, but which really had no connection to Appalachia or to country music. Thus, on November 6, 1935, the program became Dreams of Long Ago. In the Depression, sponsors were not easy to come by - and NBC and various advertising agencies were still unable to unearth one for Ethel's show, but they persisted. With a new series title came new singers: The Vass Family. A family group from South Carolina, by way of North Carolina, the five Vass siblings were harmonizing after moving to Darien, Connecticut, somewhere around 1931, when their aunt, who was in show business and was impressed with the youngsters' blend, got them an audition at NBC - and they soon had their own morning program. They first met Ethel Park Richardson in 1934, when they appeared in a sketch she did on NBC's The Children's Hour. By the autumn of 1935, the amazingly gifted family was ready to perform with Ethel every week, bringing old songs - both country and "city" - to life in dramatic form. Virginia, Frank, Emily, Sally, and Louisa Vass played dramatic parts on the series, too, in addition to providing the music. Actors such as Helen Claire, Curtis Arnall, Bud Collyer, Dick Kollmar, Cecil Secrest, John Tucker Battle, Jackie Kelk, Walter Tetley, Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins, Tex Ritter, Bob Porterfield, and many others appeared on the series.

Dreams of Long Ago did not find a sponsor, though the series continued through 1935, 1936, 1937, and 1938. It held the dubious distinction of being the longest-running NBC sustaining series of its day, beginning as Hillbilly Heart-throbs in 1933. Despite NBC's faith in the series, however, nothing was happening. Beginning to experiment with other avenues to keep her writing fresh, Ethel brought into the series short adaptations of Shakespeare in "hillbilly" dialect, which had nothing to do with dramatized ballads. The Vass Family landed on a sponsored series and departed in 1937, soon turning up in Chicago on the "National Barn Dance" and other programs, in addition to their own morning series. At this point, Ethel formed her own musical group, The Richardson Singers, featuring her niece, Bella Allen, and Texas Jim Robertson, George Petrie, and Wally Russell. This group did not quite pan out, so a new one was assembled. Margaret and Travis Johnson, with Bella Allen, later became known on records as "The Song Spinners." They were first The Richardson Singers, and later The Hilltop Harmonizers. They were there when NBC quietly retired Dreams of Long Ago on October 30, 1938.

Ethel left the NBC network, but her association with NBC continued. On April 12, 1939, less than 6 months after the network series ended, NBC offered Ethel a new contract to write, produce, and furnish all talent for a syndicated, quarter-hour version of Heart-throbs of the Hills, to be distributed on 16" vinyl discs to stations around the world wishing to lease it from NBC Program Services. She was paid $81 per program for her services, and 52 quarter-hour shows were recorded. With budgets far lower than her network shows, each program ran approximately twelve-and-a-half minutes. Recorded in the NBC studios, under the supervision of Gilbert Ralston, the programs featured Robert Porterfield, Bella Allen, Robert Strauss, Ethel Park Richardson, The Hilltop Harmonizers (Margaret and Travis Johnson, Bella Allen, Johnnie Rogers), and Ethel's favorite announcer, Kelvin Keech.

The syndicated Heart-throbs of the Hills programs ran throughout the 1940s. Strangely, none of the 16" discs are known to survive, except for five of the first 13 episodes, which were in the NBC Library at Radio City, and are now in the Library of Congress' NBC Collection.

Ethel's manager, Jean V. Grumbach, got her a job writing scripts for a recorded series, Uncle Natchel, which was sponsored by Chilean Nitrate, a fertilizer used chiefly in the Southern states. Uncle Natchel was portrayed by Frank Wilson, renowned African-American radio actor who appeared frequently on Ethel's shows. Ethel's young niece and nephew, Kathryn and Jimmy Allen, were also regular cast members. Historical fiction - with some music - Uncle Natchel , which ran for several years, was probably Ethel's least-favorite radio assignment...and it proved to be her last. Shortly after the United States entered World War II, the Chilean Nitrate contract was canceled, and Uncle Natchel ceased production. No discs are known to have survived.

Ethel Park Richardson was ready for a rest. In 1942, she left New York in a house-trailer she personally designed, and settled in California, where a daughter and son lived. Ironically, she found a spot for her trailer not far from the home of her first husband, Paul Jordan Smith, who had become Literary Editor of the Los Angeles Times. With her small trailer permanently parked in the yard of Mr. and Mrs. Boyd in Los Angeles, Ethel embarked on a plan to get into writing for motion pictures. Her play, A-Lovin- and a-Feudin', a hillbilly interpretation of Romeo and Juliet, had been produced at the Pasadena Playhouse, but Ethel lost interest in a proposed Broadway run, preferring to concentrate on getting into films. This proved impossible. She augmented her Social Security income by making exquisite, intricate dollhouse furnishings for a Los Angeles boutique, never ceasing to strive for a radio comeback or a motion picture job.

In the mid-1950s, Ethel did succeed in landing a spot as a contestant on a radio quiz program called Walk a Mile. The sponsor was Camel Cigarettes and the M.C. was Bill Cullen. Her spot as a contestant drew a lot of fan mail. Shortly thereafter, the television success of the quiz program, $64,000 Question, caused networks to create similar programs. In 1955, NBC began to air The Big Surprise, a program offering a top prize of $100,000 -- then the largest amount ever offered on a program of this nature. The producers remembered the grandmother from Tennessee - now residing in a trailer in Los Angeles - and offered her the opportunity to become a contestant. Her category was "American folklore," and they wanted her to sing a song on each show in which she appeared. For several weeks, the 72-year-old Ethel appeared on The Big Surprise. Special "expert" guests, ranging from the Governor of Tennessee to country singer Eddy Arnold, appeared to submit or help with asking the complex questions. Each week, Ethel knew the answers. Finally, she became the first contestant to win the top prize: $100,000. Her book of mountain songs was re-printed, with a dust jacket reflecting her new celebrity status. She did TV commercials for the Social Security Administration, appeared on other programs and prospective program pilots, was invited to be a guest on the Grand Ole Opry, and saw revived interest in her life and career. The excitement took its toll on her health, but she would not have had it any other way.

Her appearances on the NBC TV quiz show made her a celebrity in ways she'd never known before. After winning the $100,000, her picture appeared on the front page of newspapers around the world. She continued to plan show business-related ventures for the next five or six years, but was ready - by 1962 - to leave her trailer and move to Fresno, where her daughter operated a farm, and to retire. Interviewed a few times, she lived quietly in Fresno until her passing on April 11, 1968. A centennial stage celebration of her life, presented in 1983, bore the title Ethel once selected for her own epitaph: "She Kept on a-Goin'." On the centennial of her birth, her hometown of Decherd, Tennessee, had a small celebration in her memory. Writer, composer, singer, actress, producer, playwright, and folklorist Ethel Park Richardson loved and respected the songs, speech, and folkways of the American mountaineer. Throughout her career, she shared these things with audiences everywhere. She would be pleased, "more than all the telling" - as she liked to say - to be remembered for her work.